Irene Vélez Torres (born August 2, 1982) is a Colombian philosopher, educator, geographer, activist, and politician who served as Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development and Director of the National Environmental Licensing Authority from 2025 to 2026. Previously, she served as minister of Mines and Energy and cónsul general for Colombia in United Kingdom
Born in Bogotá, D.C., she holds a degree in Philosophy from the National University of Colombia. She has a long history as an environmental activist and is a proponent of the energy transition. She has worked closely with Indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities.
Early life Irene Vélez Torres was born on August 2, 1982, in Bogotá, D.C., to Hildebrando Vélez and Alba Marina Torres. Her mother is a plant ecologist affiliated with the University of Valle. Her father has a long history as an environmentalist, educator, and activist in the struggles of Black Communities, something that would later influence Irene's life.
After finishing high school, Vélez Torres began studying Philosophy at the National University of Colombia, which would later influence her worldview. She subsequently began a doctoral program in political geography, which allowed her to become involved with the struggles of Black communities through her father, meeting the then-environmental leader Francia Márquez, who had achieved significant successes through her activism in Cauca. This later enabled her to conduct studies in Afro-Colombian communities. Irene would later describe this experience as extremely enriching.Pérez-Rincón, M., Peralta Ardila, M., Méndez, F. & Vélez-Torres, I., (2022) “Conflicto armado interno y ambiente en Colombia: análisis desde los conflictos ecológicos, 1960-2016”, Journal of Political Ecology 29(1), 672–703. doi: https://doi.org/10.2458/jpe.2901
Irene's excellent grades made her eligible for, and subsequently selected as, a Fulbright scholarship recipient. This allowed her to pursue her doctorate in political geography at the University of Copenhagen in Copenhagen, Denmark. During her time in Copenhagen, Vélez Torres met filmmaker Van Grootheest, whom she later married in 2014.
Minister of Mines and Energy In 2022, her name was suggested for Minister of Science and Technology in the government of Gustavo Petro, since she had been appointed as part of the joint team in that area by the previous government. On August 6, 2022, President-elect Gustavo Petro instead appointed her Minister of Mines and Energy.
Her appointment caused surprise due to Vélez's environmental activism and lack of connection to the extractivist energy sectors such as oil and coal. However the Petro government proposed an acceleration of the energy transition to make the country less and less dependent on non-renewable extractive energy with an increase in clean renewables.
After controversies, including two censure motions, she had to resign in June 2023, over a case of influence-peddling involving a migration officer who was pressured, allegedly, by Vélez to allow the departure of her son for Europe without complying with legal requirements. A charge of influence peddling is pending in the Colombian courts, as of 2024, as is a legal challenge to her appointment to a Consular diplomatic post in London ahead of other qualified candidates.
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